Tag Archives: Blueberries

I often find myself looking for a quick snack during the day or just before a run. Something that doesn’t take any time to prepare and something that I can eat with one hand while I’m holding a toddler or chasing a four year old.

In the past, I used to buy granola bars or other snack bars to have on hand. One of these bars that I used to purchase is the Nutrigrain bar by Kelloggs. I haven’t eaten one of these in years, but I decided to look up the ingredients. I was curious, and here’s what I found:

I cringe now when I look at that list. A few things stand out – high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavour, Red 40, Blue 1. I can’t believe I used to regularly ingest such awful ingredients. And how many times can sugar be listed in the ingredients? I counted 5. That is atrocious.

Here is my answer to the Nutrigrain bar. It is free of refined sugars, refined flours and also free of gluten (if using GF oats), dairy and soy. It is quick and easy to make and it is something you can feel good about eating. Oh yeah – it’s also delicious.

Like this:

A few weeks ago I went to an amazing cooking class given by Marni Wasserman, a holistic nutritionist. I have been following Marni’s blog for a while, and have learned so much about healthy eating from her. The class was informative, interactive, and a lot of fun. I liked it so much, that I have signed up for another one of her classes in December – Indian cooking. Can’t wait!

Amongst other tasty dishes, we made delicious hemp loaves in her class. The recipe can be found here. Hemp is really a superfood! Marni explains it:

The protein present in hemp is complete -containing all 10 essential amino acids which makes it ideal for vegetarians, vegans or anyone seeking an alternative source of protein. Hemp also contains balanced healthy fats – both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. This makes hemp an excellent natural anti-inflammatory as well as providing the body with healthy oils for skin, hair and nails. If this isn’t enough already… hemp is also easy to digest (because it contains it’s own natural enzymes), contains a high levels of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, fibre and chlorophyll.

Marni’s recipe is delicious in its original form, but I switched it up a bit. Don’t let some of the uncommon ingredients scare you off – they can all be purchased at Whole Foods or your local health food store. Here’s what I did:

5. Bake for 15-20 mins. The muffin tops should just be just turning brown.

6. Cook on a wire rack. ENJOY!

The finished product

This muffin is full of protein and healthy fats and will provide you with lots of energy to make it through a busy day. You won’t crash and burn with these, like you would with most traditional muffins containing white flour, white sugar and unhealthy fats! This is a muffin you can feel good about eating.